9. Betrayed best friend

Aleida’s POV

I run through the darkness, staying in the shadows so as not to alert him. My best friend that we hunted for days without being able to find, but guess what? I found him all by myself! He may be able to hide from my warriors, but he’ll never be able to cover from his best friend. I’ve been following and keeping an eye on him for a couple of hours now, yet nothing strange has occurred. He has been to a coffee shop, bought coffee, picked up clothes from dry cleaners, bought fruit from a stall in the square, and just got out of the grocery store. These are things that any person could occupy himself with on an ordinary Monday. So why hasn’t the feeling of discomfort in my stomach released yet? It seems to grow every hour that goes by, and I can’t explain why; I have no idea! I’m sitting huddled in a bush outside the store, waiting for him to do something, anything. Suddenly a person with a black hoodie comes up to him when he’s about to pick up his goods in the car; the person whispers something to Michael before pointing towards the bush I sit in. The person gets in the car and turns the key before disappearing from the spot. Michael moves in my direction and growls deep in his chest; by instinct, I growl back. He throws himself towards the place I’m at, and I merely have time to move, which results in him throwing himself into the ground.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Michael?” I growl and pick him up by his collar.

He throws himself back and forth in an attempt for me to let go of him, but I won’t, not until he settles down. Michael bare his canines at me, and I show mine, growling loudly into his face. He whimpers, not able to oppose my alpha aura. His face lights up with realization.

“Aleida?” he asks in confusion.

“How dare you growl at your alpha?” I growl at him, furious.

Michael whimpers like a dog and looks ashamed, which makes me put him down. He looks at me through his lashes and opens his mouth to speak before closing it again. Yeah, you don’t have very much to say now, do you?

“How could you do this to me, Michael?” I say, and my voice breaks at the end. “You’re my best friend and my beta, for goddess sake! We’ve done everything together since the first time we met. What changed?”

“You shouldn’t look for me because I don’t want to be found,” he answers and looks away from me.

“How can I not look for you? You’re my family!”

“Well, you’re not my family,” he answers ice-cold and looks me straight in the eye.

“You made a blood pact to protect me from harm,” I start with tears streaming down my face and back away from him slowly. “But you’re the one who’s hurting me.”

I shift and run faster than ever before. My heart is breaking, and it’s physically painful. I run through our territory and let out a loud howl of sorrow into the dark night. My breathings are erratic, and I can’t even stay as a hybrid; I shift without controlling it. My body feels heavy, and I fall to the ground in a pile. I cry loudly and scream at the pain within my heart. Blake, Vincent, and Luis come running out of the packhouse, looking ready to fight. When their eyes land on me, they instantly soften.

“Mi hija, where have you been?” Luis asks and hugs me close.

“I found him, I found Michael,” I answer with a sniffle.

“What happened?”

I explain the turn of events to the three, and for each word, it hurts even more inside me. The story ends, and I fall back on the ground, clutching my heart. I can’t even make you understand what kind of pain this is because I don’t even know myself.

“That fucker! How dare he oppose his queen that way?” Vincent growl.

I turn off all the background noises and focus on Elisa; she’s upset. When she gets angry, I lose control, and I have to learn to maintain it. She howls in my head of the betrayal, loss of our mates, the sound of our whining puppies, and everything that has been too much for us to handle lately. We howl again, louder than before, and I swear that my mates must have heard it. My shift is fast and painless; Elisa is lying down on the ground, tears streaming down her eyes. She’s a stable hybrid, and when she was a wolf, I only saw her cry a few times; that was only when we left our mates. We just lay there, whimpering in self-pity, not knowing what else to do. My heart chatters, and I want to kill Michael slowly, but at the same time, I want to hug him close. How do you process a betrayal of this kind without losing your mind?

“Aleida?” Luis speaks softly, and when I raise my head to look at them, they gasp at the sight. “He broke her hybrid.”

I rise from the ground and walk towards the packhouse with my tail hanging low. The members I pass on the way whimper when they see the state I’m in. We’re all connected, and they feel what I feel. Not many can break the hybrid queen apart, and every one of the werewolf community knew it. My body feels sore, and I’m not sure if it’s because of the pain in our chest or its exhaustion. How will I continue forward from this? Instead of focusing on my internal battle, my concentration remains on the papers on my desk. I and the alpha I met on the Alpha gala have finally signed the contract. This means that we’re good to go! I can expand my company in new ways I wasn’t able to before, which makes me giddy with excitement. The whole plan is set in motion, and I’m going to enjoy this very much. My idea is to bring the werewolf community closer together. To do that, we have to collaborate in different places of expertise. For example, some wolfs are very good with puppies and can help in that area, etc. Shortly, I want us all to work together. I’ve picked up some science here and there over time. My vision is to be able to ‘heal’ the feral rogues, to give them a chance to mend their crimes and make them a part of our society. You might as well call me a communist because I want everyone on board! There’s no way I’ll be able to focus on my work now; however, my brain is still trying to work after the truth sowed its seed in me. My heart and the rest of my body don’t stop aching either. What’s really going on? This is starting to freak me out! When my vision starts to blur and the darkness approaches my mind, I manage to mind-link Luis. I ask him to hurry here to take me to the pack hospital; it’s been a long time since I felt afraid of what’s coming. Thankfully, Luis comes running inside my office.

“Aleida, what is happening? Please talk to me!”

Unable to talk, he growls and picks me up bridal style. Vincent, Blake, and a few other vampires are walking close to us, protecting me from potential danger. I want to thank them, but my mouth isn’t working, and no words come out. Luis scares the medical team when he roars at them to help me quickly. He puts me down in a hospital bed, and I scream from the sudden pain that hits me like a flood. Everything hurts! Giving birth feels like a massage in comparison to this. The doctor checks my vitals and examines me in all kinds of ways. After ten minutes, he looks at me with compassion and fright. He knows what’s happening, but it doesn’t seem like he can utter the words we’re all waiting to hear.

“What is happening to her?” Luis exclaims anxiously.

“The beta is revoking his pledge. He’s killing our alpha slowly...”

Unknown POV

It feels amazing to watch the supposed “hybrid queen” turn during the pain my lovely little puppet has put in her. Strangely, it wasn’t hard at all to make Michael revoke his pledge. He looked rather happy about it and didn’t fight my manipulation at all. That only happens if the creature I’m using it on secretly wishes for that particular thing, which means that Michael wanted out before I even appeared. I think he loved her. Ugh, these dogs are disgusting! How can anyone love this girl? She’s petite, not beautiful, a horrible person, and makes others feel bad. I don’t care if it’s intentional or not, she has to go, and that’s why we’re working on it right this second. I’m watching her closely and feed on her screams from pain. I always admired the small part of her who could take massive amounts of pain without reacting to it. Apparently, she’s gotten weak by her mates and the family life. Where’s the potent hybrid now, huh? I’ll be the strongest creature alive in no time if this works as it’s planned. This girl has gotten all she ever wanted on a silver platter before her without any effort at all. Yeah, it’s the small part about the abuse, but who hasn’t been abused and hurt? That doesn’t make her special at all, that’s how I’ve lived my whole life, and you don’t hear me complaining. She doesn’t get any sympathy from me, not when she’s the reason I can’t reach my full potential and take back what once was mine. Aleida doesn’t even know that she robbed me of everything rightfully mine when she didn’t die that day! Why couldn’t that bitch die like a good doggie? She didn’t die when she was supposed to, and when the new chance came around, she actually did die but came back even more vital. How the hell is that fair!? But just you wait, Aleida. I’ll be proceeding to you, and you won’t see it coming. You don’t know it, but I do; your family is your life source. Your people are what makes you strong; nothing inside of you is powerful enough to go against me. I’m going to tear your people apart limb by limb, and I’m going to enjoy it.

“Mistress, the pact is almost demolished, like you asked,” Michael says with his puppy eyes looking at me.

“Such a good dog you are! Have you been good?” I ask, and he nods frantically. “Do you deserve pleasure for this?”

“Yes, mistress! Please, I’ve been so so good!” he groans, ready to explode, and I haven’t even touched him yet.

“Well, get here, baby,” I answer, and he does; my fangs push their ways into his neck.

He moans from the addiction of my fangs, and while his blood trickles down my throat, all I can think is: I’m going to miss this food pet when I kill him.